Uncasville, Conn. ? While planning business deals with tribes across the country, Mohegan chairman Mark F. Brown keeps in mind a recent conversation with U.S. Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz.

“Prove to me IGRA works,” McCain said. He was referring to a notorious Time magazine cover story criticizing the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA); the article claimed that the wealth from tribally-owned casinos benefited only a handful of super-rich tribes, such as Brown’s Mohegan Indians in southeastern Connecticut.

Brown disputes Time’s conclusion by word and deed. His tribal leadership is reviewing a number of economic development projects throughout American Indian country, as well as technical assistance to noncasino tribes closer to home.

Brown said his planning was driven not only by the bottom line but also by criticism of the Mohegan success.

“I feel I have something to show to Senator McCain,” he said.

His response to such criticism exemplifies a growing current of economic thinking across American Indian country. Tribes that have begun to accumulate capital through the gaming sanctioned by IGRA are increasingly looking beyond their own confines not only for sound investments but also for chances to share the wealth. To many, inter-tribal trade is the next level of American Indian economic recovery, as well as an expression of tribal sovereignty.

Although many in mainstream culture, and the press, see only casinos when they think of American Indian economies, IGRA itself describes gaming as a means, not an end. The casinos were meant to promote “tribal economic development, self-sufficiency and strong tribal government.” For years, far-sighted tribal leaders have strenuously urged diversification to guard against a day when political backlash might cut off casino revenue.

“I believe in the near future Indian country will be divided into the “‘Have’s,’ the ‘Used-to-Have’s’ and the ‘Never-Had’s,'” said Lance Morgan, chief executive officer of the Winnebago Tribe’s Ho-Chunk Industries.

The Winnebagos are among a handful of tribes that have succeeded in broadening their base. The Mississippi Band of Choctaws under the leadership of Phillip Martin had actually established successful manufacturing businesses before getting into casinos. The Southern Utes of Colorado, the first tribe to gain a Triple A, highest investment grade rating for its bonds, won its financial reputation because of its energy holdings.

Marilyn Bread, director of the Center for Tribal Entrepreneurial Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University and also president of the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Kansas, left, and Loretta Spotted Horsechief, a Haskell alumna and an entrepreneur, look over some samples of Indian artwork that Spotted Horsechief is promoting for the artists. Bread is working to create a national American Indian Chamber of Commerce.

Becoming a team

Many tribes have been left behind, particularly those in the western part of the country with large populations and land bases but remote locations.

American Indian leaders, though, have been trying to address the economic disparity between tribes by increasing inter-tribal trade, technical assistance and purchasing consortiums to pool the buying power of tribal casinos and resorts.

Earlier this year the National Indian Gaming Assn. announced the formation of the American Indian Business Network.

“We have to stimulate our own economy — do business with each other and lead by example,” said Valerie Spicer, vice president of Borrego Springs Bank, a chairwoman of the initiative.

Some American Indian tribes already have begun to carry out the idea on an international scale. Hoping to capitalize from a similar culture, the Oneida Indian Nation of New York has begun working with Mayan farmers from Guatemala to export coffee to the United States. The coffee is then marketed across the country as “Native-grown.”

Tax fued

Several tribes have begun to market their experience with successful casinos to newcomers, setting up deals through tribally-owned management companies. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians, in fact, recently purchased a nonIndian casino management firm.

Nongaming trade has produced some big success stories as well, but these also are proving to be major battlefields with state governments. The Winnebago’s Ho-Chunk Industries runs a tribally incorporated petroleum supply company HCI Distribution, based in Nebraska, which ships fuel to gas stations owned by neighboring tribes, including three in Kansas.

HCI purchases fuel from nonreservation pipeline stations in Nebraska and Iowa and then blends in an alcohol additive in a plant on the Winnebago’s Nebraska reservation. For several years, it has sold the end product to Kansas gas stations on the territory of the Sac and Fox Nation, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and the Kickapoo Tribe of Indians. The Winnebagos refused to pay the Kansas gas distribution tax on the grounds that tribe-to-tribe transactions could not be taxed by states. In March 2002, Kansas seized HCI fuel tankers and brought state criminal charges against Winnebago chief John Blackhawk and HCI’s Lance Morgan.

The Winnebagos and Kansas tribes brought the case to federal court and so far have won. On Aug. 28, the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court injunction against the state of Kansas, which suspended the criminal cases and returned the trucks to the tribal business. The tax issues still have to be litigated.

Because of the conflict, however, one tribal attorney urges that tribes formalize their trade agreements in government-to-government treaties.